Modern airliners are normally equipped with onboard kitchens, so-called galleys, known for example from DE 10 2006 023 047 B4 or U.S. Pat. No. 7,780,114 B2. The galleys are usually installed in the doorway areas of the aircraft cabin and have a carcass with a base structure delimited by a worktop and top compartments arranged above the worktop. Kitchen appliances such as e.g. coffee machines, kettles, ovens etc. as well as drinks and food are normally accommodated in the top compartments of the galley. In the base structure of the galley, on the other hand, a trolley compartment is arranged to take up mobile trolleys, which are laden with objects, such as e.g. drinks and food, provided for dispensing to the passengers on board the aircraft.
Furthermore, aircraft galleys are known with trolley compartments that are provided to take up trolleys laden with goods to be cooled. Thus cooled drinks and food can be dispensed to the passengers on board the aircraft during the flight, for example. Such trolley compartments can have a decentralized cooling device with its own compression refrigeration machine, by which a cooling medium, usually cooling air, is provided for cooling the trolleys taken up in the trolley compartments. The use of a central cooling system of a transport vehicle or apparatus is also known, for example from DE 43 40 317 C2, DE 10 2006 005 035 B3, WO 2007/080012 A1, DE 10 2009 011 797 A1 and US 2010/0251797 A1, which comprises a central compression refrigeration machine, the cooling output of which is provided by a coolant circuit to a plurality of cooling units in the area of the aircraft galley. The cooling energy provided to the individual cooling units is transferred by the coolant circuit by a heat exchanger to a cooling medium to be supplied to a cooling unit, which medium is used to cool trolleys taken up in a trolley compartment.
Regardless of the manner in which the cooling energy is provided for cooling the trolleys taken up in the trolley compartments, a distinction is basically made between so-called “air-over” cooling arrangements and “air-through” cooling arrangements, which are described, for example, in DE 10 2010 031 909 A1 and WO 2012/025200 A1. The “air-over” cooling arrangements comprise a thermally insulated cooling chamber, which is sealed off in relation to its environment and in which at least one trolley laden with goods to be cooled is taken up. The trolleys used in the “air-over” cooling arrangements are not thermally insulated for their part. In contrast, the trolleys used in an “air-through” cooling arrangement have cooling air connections, which are connected to the decentralized cooling device or the central cooling system. In other words, the cooling air provided by the decentralized cooling device or the central cooling system is conducted via a cooling air line directly into the trolleys and thus to the goods to be cooled that are housed therein.
Compared with an “air-over” cooling arrangement, faster cooling of the goods to be cooled in the trolleys takes place in an “air-through” cooling arrangement. However, the trolleys used in the “air-through” cooling arrangements have a lower temperature relative to their surroundings on the outer surfaces of their housing when in operation. This results in water condensing on the outer surfaces of the housing of the trolleys from the warm, humid air surrounding the trolleys and collecting in a floor area of the compartment taking up the trolleys. To remove the condensate arising thus, a water drainage system is provided in the floor area of the compartment taking up the trolleys.
Furthermore, a cooling arrangement for an aircraft galley is known from EP 2 650 216 B1 that is based on a combination of the “air-over” and “air-through” cooling arrangements described above. The cooling arrangement comprises a cooling compartment with an interior in which at least one cooling energy consumer is accommodated. An air inlet distribution duct for supplying cooling air to the interior and an air outlet distribution duct for removing cooling air from the interior are arranged on a rear wall of the interior of the cooling compartment. The air inlet distribution duct comprises a cooling air inlet, which is configured to conduct cooling air into the interior of the cooling compartment so that this air is conducted over an outer surface of a housing of the cooling energy consumer. Furthermore, the air inlet distribution duct comprises another cooling air inlet, which is connected to a cooling fluid inlet formed in the housing of the cooling energy consumer and conducts cooling air into the housing of the cooling energy consumer. The air outlet distribution duct correspondingly comprises a cooling air outlet for removing the cooling air conducted into the interior of the cooling compartment and over the outer surface of the housing of the cooling energy consumer. The air outlet distribution duct further comprises another cooling air outlet for removing the cooling air conducted into the housing of the cooling energy consumer, which outlet is connected to a cooling fluid outlet formed in the housing of the cooling energy consumer.